Whether driven by live sports or blockbuster movies, the explosive demand for Internet video keeps rising. Increasingly, consumers want it all, and they want it on any device, at any time. Indeed, by 2015, Cisco projects a quadrupling of IP traffic, 90 percent of which will be video.

This is an exciting trend, for sure. But headaches abound, up and down the value chain. For service providers (SPs), this torrent of web content places an undue burden on the network. And SPs gain little in revenue, since over-the-top content providers often outsource the distribution of their material to pure-play content delivery network (CDN) companies. Meanwhile, the content providers—who increasingly charge consumers for their offerings—fear that they may not be able to maintain standards of quality. As for those paying customers? They want their video now, and they expect it to stream perfectly.

In February 2012 179 million U.S. Internet users watched nearly 38 billion online videos, according to industry research. Predictably, YouTube statistics are colored with consumer viewing behavior. But B2B online video viewing grew 27% from 2010 to 2011 and eMarketer estimates that B2B spending on online video will rise as much as 55% this year. Which makes it the fastest growing ad format in 2012. In fact, your B2B audience expects you to engage them via video. Companies that don’t utilize video as part of their marketing efforts are likely to use lead generation opportunities to competitors that do.

Having online video in your mix is a priority for marketing in the coming year. Here five tips to help you create compelling videos to drive your business:

Content is all around you – You already posses a wealth of content that can be reused, recycled and repurposed into online video. It’s tucked into the deep recesses and dank corners of your business. White papers, promotional materials, training videos, presentations developed for product briefings, keynote presentations given by your executive teams at conferences, panel discussions, interviews – the list is endless if you really look. Identify it, categorize it, and leverage it to engage your customers and prospect.

My last post described some of the cloud-based home healthcare services that broadband service providers are beginning to offer. Central to this idea is third-party partnerships: allowing outside healthcare providers into the traditional “walled garden” of telecom services. It’s easy to see how this model could be extended beyond healthcare.

One can imagine all sorts of value-added cloud applications that third parties could deliver over wireline networks. Indeed, one can envision a future in which service providers follow in the footsteps of Apple’s App Store and the Google Android Marketplace, where subscribers can choose from among thousands of third-party cloud apps that take advantage of their home broadband connections, gateways, and TV set-top boxes (STBs).

It was a evening like any other. The Lone Admin walks into a his local watering hole to relax after a full day of battling issues and keeping his company’s network safe and secure. He is known somewhat as a miracle worker, a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. Even against the most sinister of network issues he is able to stand his ground and find resolution all by himself. How does he do it? None of his peers know.

Happy Friday Everyone! With the United States Memorial Day approaching this weekend, the Cisco Veteran’s Employee Resource Group (VETS ERG) is preparing care packages to send to deployed military service members. As part of that drive, Cisco assembled a video of Cisco employees saying “Thank you!” to all of our deployed troops. Happy Memorial Day!

In just two years, sales of Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) are outpacing market growth for x86 blades and Cisco has become the #3 player worldwide in x86 blade server factory revenue. Check out this infographic to learn more about the progress of UCS.

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